


Cherries and Catching Up

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Gunnerkrigg Court
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Hanging Out, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Yuletide, Yuletide 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 20:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2824382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a tumultuous week, Annie and Kat return to their cherry tree</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cherries and Catching Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pluviann](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pluviann/gifts).



> Set between chapters 47 and 48. Thanks to my beta, Healy!

Kat was waiting beside the door when Annie arrived. She was all done up in her forest attire; a green dress and brown leggings, both with embroidered white designs. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and there was white and green paint all over her face and arms. Still, Annie looked amazing.

"Kat!" Annie ran to Kat and they thumped into each other in a bone-crunching hug.

"Hey!" Kat pulled her back and looked her over. "You look good. I trust Coyote and the others didn't try any funny business while you were out there?"

Annie giggled. "No, no funny business. Honestly, I was mostly dealing with the smaller creatures. Of course, Ysengrin was there to guard me, as always, but Coyote was dealing with something elsewhere in the world."

Kat quickly opened the door and they strode out into the sunshine in what she had come to think of as _their_ room. "He just left the forest?"

Annie scrunched up her nose, thinking. "Actually, he might have been hanging around in disguise, but he never spoke to me, so I think he might have been gone. Anyway, the point was for me to get to know the forest creatures, without Coyote or Ysengrin there."

"But you said Ysengrin was there!" Kat pointed out.

"Well, he was there, as in he was prowling around keeping an eye out for trouble, but he wasn't with me the whole time. This was about me being the medium for the forest creatures, and me learning about them. And them learning about me, of course."

"I'm sure they all loved you!" Kat declared. She found the knot midway up the tree trunk and stepped on it, using a bit of momentum to catch a higher branch. She was quickly midway up and positioned strategically to find the best cherries.

Annie giggled and followed her. She jumped up, caught a low branch, and then swung herself up. Within seconds she was on a branch aligned with Kat's, having moved just like the kind of forest creature she was dressed as.

"Wow," was all Kat could think to say.

Annie blushed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I learned a lot this week."

They were silent for a few moments, each picking and choosing among the mostly ripe cherries. "Oh, that reminds me! How was your break?" Annie asked.

"I mostly just stayed in my lab," Kat admitted, kicking her feet a little. "We're the only ones who had the week off, so my parents both still had classes. It wasn't like we could go on a real trip."

"Still, all that time to work, uninterrupted by classes..." Annie prompted.

Kat grinned. Annie knew her so well. "Okay, yes, I spent _all_ week in my lab. I'm making a lot of progress on my robot growing project."

"Did any new robots come in to see Jeanne?" Annie asked neutrally, but Kat knew that the plight of the ghostly woman was still troubling her friend.

"Not really. They seem to come in spurts; some days I can barely work for the parade through my space, and some weeks I don't have a single visitor. This past week was a slow one."

Annie hummed, but didn't voice her thoughts. After a moment of eating cherries in silence, Annie cleared her throat. "So you really think it is possible to grow a robot? I mean really, completely, a whole body?"

"Sure!" Kat replied automatically. Annie gave her the look, and Kat paused to think. "Yes? I mean, that's the plan? I just- I know it will work. I can't tell you how I know, because it's like no science I've ever studied before, but somehow I just know. It's strange, but like with your etheric sciences, I'm just trying to go with it instead of explaining it."

Annie stayed silent, so Kat rambled on. "It isn't the same as what Diego did, from what I can tell. I mean, I can't even tell exactly what he did, because again, etheric influence, but I know enough to know that this is different."

"So will your robot be more machine or more organic?" Annie finally asked.

"I don't think I'll know until it's finished," Kat admitted. "The base elements are largely mechanical and chemical, but you could say that about the basic structure of any living being, so..." she shrugged. "I'm just going on instinct here."

To her surprise, because Kat herself was extremely nervous about such disorderly experiments, Annie's grin grew wider. "I think that's an excellent way to proceed," she said. "Sometimes you don't know the end result you're looking for, but you carry on by instinct anyway."

Kat got the impression that the conversation wasn't about her robot anymore, and she paused, unsure how to reply. Luckily, a moment later, Annie continued. "I guided another spirit last week," she said quietly.

"A ghost?" Kat didn't know of any ghosts in the forest, other than Jeanne, who wasn't in the forest technically, but things died all the time, so it would be reasonable to find ghosts anywhere, but- no! Focus Donlan! Kat looked back at Annie and found her staring off into space.

Kat was beginning to fear that she had put her foot in her mouth again when Annie whispered, "There are human ruins in the forest, from before the divide."

"Before the divide! But that's centuries ago!" Kat burst out before she could stop herself.

"Yes, it was. And there were humans who lived in those buildings and fought against the divide. It… it didn't end well for them." Annie met her eyes for a moment, and Kat saw that her friend still wasn't okay with this aspect of her medium job. Annie looked away, far over the gently waving grasses, and Kat again found herself at a loss. She just didn't know how to make this better for her friend.

Kat looked around, hoping that inspiration would strike, and her gaze was caught by the cherries beside Annie's head. Inspiration indeed struck, and she grabbed a cherry. Biting it in half, she spit the pit at Annie. Her aim was dead on, and the pit left a small red smear on Annie's cheek.

Annie spun around, but Kat was ready with another cherry, and managed to hit her in the forehead this time. Annie blinked once, twice, and then grinned. Grabbing her own handful of cherries, she retaliated, and a full on cherry-pit-spitting war engaged.

Minutes, or maybe hours, later, both girls ended up on the ground, covered in cherry juice, laughing. This time no gardener interrupted their fun, and no tears were shed. The sun beat down on them, the grass smelled good, and they were full of sweet cherries, their sides aching from laughter.


End file.
